tudes about Socialist opposition to war on
principle, and then pledged the party's 111 votes solidly to the
War Credits for which the Government was asking. When the
Chancellor afterwards made his celebrated speech it was cheered to
the echo by the entire House, _including the Socialists_. I do not
know whether Liebknecht was present, though he is almost certain to
have been, but if so he made no note-worthy protest. How
completely the Government befooled the Socialists about the war was
proved a few days later when Dr. Franck, one of the Social
Democracy's most shining lights and the man who was in line to be
Bebel's successor, _volunteered_ for military service. He was one
of the first to fall fighting in September, somewhere in the West.

The authorities might have known that Liebknecht was a hard man to
keep quiet if he ever decided to speak out. Fresh in the
Government's mind was his bold exposure of the Krupp bribery
scandals at the War Office (in 1913) and his disclosures about how
the German munition trust for years systematically stirred up war
fever abroad, in order to convince the German people of the
necessity of speeding up their own huge armaments on land and sea.
As soon as Liebknecht's Reichstag and Prussian Diet speeches began
to show that he was tired of the muzzle, the Government called him
up for military service. They stuck him into the uniform of an
_Armierungssoldat_ (Army Service Corps soldier). This meant that
his public speeches in connection with the war had to be confined
to the two Parliaments in which he held seats. Anything of an
opposition character which he said or did _outside_ would be
"treason" or "sedition."

Liebknecht was put to work on A.S.C. jobs behind the fronts
alternately in the East and West, I believe, but was given leaves
of absence to attend to his Parliamentary duties from time to time.
On these occasions he would appear in the Reichstag in the dull
field-grey of an ordinary private--the only member so clad in a
House of 397 Deputies, among whom are dozens of officers in uniform
up to the rank of generals.

I was particularly fortunate to be able to secure a card of
admission to the Strangers' Gallery of the Reichstag on January 17,
the day set for discussion of military matters. I went to my place
early--a few minutes past the noon hour, as the Reichstag usually
convenes at 1 p.m. The floor was still quite empty, though the
galleries were filled with peop